Over the past year, insiders sold CN¥23m worth of Sun Art Retail Group Limited (HKG:6808) stock at an average price of CN¥6.38 per share allowing them to get the most out of their money. After the stock price dropped 11% last week, the company's market value declined by HK$2.7b, but insiders were able to mitigate their losses.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

View our latest analysis for Sun Art Retail Group

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Sun Art Retail Group

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Non-Executive Chairman, Ming-Tuan Huang, sold HK$23m worth of shares at a price of HK$6.38 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is HK$2.16. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels. The only individual insider seller over the last year was Ming-Tuan Huang.

You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Sun Art Retail Group insiders own about HK$148m worth of shares. That equates to 0.7% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Sun Art Retail Group Tell Us?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Sun Art Retail Group shares in the last quarter. It's heartening that insiders own plenty of stock, but we'd like to see more insider buying, since the last year of Sun Art Retail Group insider transactions don't fill us with confidence. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. At Simply Wall St, we found 2 warning signs for Sun Art Retail Group that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

Of course Sun Art Retail Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.